new2Zs

Check with the lemons racer guys, they have similar treadwear ratings and run a variety of different tire sizes

been posted before. But yes its pretty awesome. They have a pretty good videos, just watched them hook up 5 leaf blowers to a monza. I wish they did more of a write up on their cars though. That car would be super mean with some suspension upgrades.

looks super good, If anything you might need some slight fender rolling after, but i like the look of it You mentioned that you are going to widen the doors, are the doors going to have a taper so the front is stock thickness and the rear matches the fender?

right on, I'd be interested to see what your mounts look like, I'm hopefully going to fab some up this weekend out of 1/4" i'll try to make templates, so if you need another set of measurements for a 2jz and r154.

hey ryan whats it like driving that single on the street? For now i'm going to throw the stock clutch in it. Im dying to get this thing driving and my pocket book is just plain dying. So i'm going to get it in and figure out all the wiring for megasquirt, then pull it apart, cause i probably need a rebuild on the engine and tranny anyways.

My advice would be just look at what is worth more, your time or the part you are making. Like you could build an turbo exhaust manifold, but for the amount of time and money for materials, its probably cheaper to buy one, and spend your time on something else. Some advice i got from a grey beard one time was keep the down time of the project to a minimum. It might take you longer to get your project exactly how you like it, but you will keep your motivation wayyyyyy up if you are close to driving it. If you have a running Z keep it like that until you have the parts to do the swap.

I'm pretty sure that manifold bolts to the stock piece of the manifold. The na-t manifold is a 3 piece manifold. The lower piece that you would reuse has all the ports and bolt holes for the injectors. good luck on your build, I'm almost at sourcing a manifold, and have been debating on making one or buying one.

Is there a write up on the car? i haven't seen anything about it besides its a v6 with a power stroke turbo. I like the rims does anyone know what those are? also I thought i saw some anodized suspension components. I wonder what they did for the suspension.

why not just get lower compression pistons? you could use the time to throw in new rings and clean up the cylinders as well. Its not simple to just "slap on a turbo" Its a fair amount of work, so if you are going to put the work in, you might as well get the benefits. For longevity of the motor and power, it would be better to do a low compression boosted engine vrs high compression boosted.

I like the look as well, compliments the lights and still has a little protection for the paint.

A little interesting fact that I heard, is that LED brake lights light faster than incandescent bulbs, to the tune of stopping 5ft sooner from freeway speeds. I imagine if we are also talking about passive safety devices I would say brighter headlights would help. Very informative thread thought good work guys!!

I thought about the t56, but i just picked up a r154 with a 2jz bell housing for decently cheap so, i guess I'm gonna go the tried and true method with this. Once i get a little progress i'll post some pictures

yeah that oil filter sucks! I've been looking into a way to mount a relocation kit directly to the block instead of using the weird little elbow. This would clear the engine mount and make it easier to reach the filter when the engine is in the car.

I think that its all biased on your skill level. Can you weld? can you troubleshoot electrical? what about tune? If not its going to limit your choices. Also I would think of what you would use the car for, Is it gonna be a tracker, or street, or show? Are you going to have a roll cage? or full interior? Do you want the shifter to come in the stock location? Do you need to follow any racing rules, as stated above? I think the easiest swap would be a 280 motor in a 240. Or do no swap and stroke your 240 motor. More power easiest fitment, probably the cheapest or close to the cheapest option. After that i think an old v8 would be easy because its mostly self contained, with a carb and hei distributor there is not much tuning involved to get the car running. Not to mention you could pick up a chevy 350 and transmission for a couple hundred bucks. the down sides would be making motor mounts and fitting everything. You might be able to use the ls1 brackets, i haven't researched it so I'm not up on the options. After those i think pretty much the other swaps are all the same work, but vary in difficulty with popularity. A 1jz or 2jz swap has been done a bunch of times and have great aftermarket support making this easier than say a ford v10. My goal when working on vehicles is to keep the down time as low as possible. For some reason it seems to keep me motivated if the car can at least go around the block. Or fire it up. Whatever your decide, lets see pictures!!!!

You might have already gotten it, but for what its worth I would look at the bigger picture. You don't really know the guy selling the car, so you don't know for sure if the only damage is the rear that he"fixed" and the fact that the undercoating is peeling off and its rough in some spots would also raise my suspicions. "a passionate Z lover" who hasn't cleared the bumper, and has these little blemishes. Course all of us have something that could be fixed on our car. I would look at how long its been for sale. And how many are for sale in the area. How far are u willing to travel? If you think about it, you want a z so you aren't going to be great at deciding because you already want it. You will be willing to overlook small red flags cause you want it. Take your buddy with you and have him look over the car. Would he buy it? If so its probably decent. Investments are important, but it sounds like you are buying a hobby. Hobbys usually lose money. You are trading your money for fun. So if you sell it for a couple thousand less in 5 years it would be worth it. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with whatever you chose

Looks good!! i'm glad you had a bunch of pictures so we didn't have to wait for an update!! i wish my project was as far along as yours is!!! keep it up!

Are you talking about the one of the two triangle sections that are behind the seats? Or directly behind the seat? I thought the two triangle sections would be a great place to put two small batteries wired in parallel. Would have good weight distribution and you would be able to reach the battery from either side for a jump or whatever.

Ok guys after looking for a while I finally found a Z!!!!!!!!! pre smog 240. I was looking for something more complete but i'll be replacing everything as time permits, so a shell with a clean title will do. Can't wait to get this thing on the road! I have a 2jz-ge to go into it, I'm planning on throwing a t4 on it and having a fun little screamer! I want to try to make this car as user friendly (besides 450-600hp) so I can detune and have anyone drive it, as well as still be able to use the defrost and radio and all the modern conveniences. So when I get more updates i'll be updating the build but for now heres when i got it in the driveway.

Thats what i was figuring, 600 is just a number. i've driven 500hp+ cars that were really easy to control, but I've never done it in a Z so I might be happy with less. I'd just hate to build it up and then after a month turn up the boost and have it slip like crazy, then have to pull the tranny and do a clutch job when I could have done it right in the first place. Then again, 400 is a lot cheaper than 1500+ and it would get the car on the road quicker……Decisions decisions!!! thanks for the input!

I know the e30 drivetrain is pretty legit. They are spec raced a lot. Strong rear ends and trannys, I have just never heard of anyone putting any power through them, but then again I don't frequent the beemer forums. When you think you will be done with the adaptor? Also on a side note, it seems like most of the single disc clutches only hold 450-500hp. can you recommend a good clutch that won't break the bank but can handle 600?

Woah sorry I pissed in your boots apparently. I was stating general terms, not posting a build sheet. I've only built one L28 (p90a head) and it was a rebuild not built for more power, so no I don't know if the stock rods would hold, apparently now I know. People do mods that I don't necessarily agree with, but if its safe ill condone anyone to work on their project. And yea cool to me is something that has a personal touch to it. Are u telling me that if someone was willing to bore out an L28 and destroke it, you would have no interest in seeing how it comes out?

Right on!! From what I read the r150 came in 2wd trucks with the v6 so I was gonna look around for one of those. Really I was wondering if u can in fact swap the bell housings with a 1jz motor like the r154, and are they as strong. The e30 tranny would be cool can the Handle the power?

Did u get it? For me it would depend on how many are in your area. I'm looking for a r154 swap, and there are exactly 2 on Craigslist and none in he junkyards. 700-800 wouldn't be bad for that tranny, people other places probably pick them up for 100 bucks. So really it depends on your local market

I would say go for it, bore it out a little bit and get nice pistons and some high strength rods, and a gnarly cam and valve springs that can handle it, and build a 10k revving monster. You will have great throttle response, and high end power. Could you build an engine that is cheaper and makes more power, probably. But there is definatly a cool factor to pulling up to a light and sounding like an F1 car. Just remember high revs mean stuff wears faster which will mean more rebuilds and more money. Last I checked F1s had a ridiculously small stroke, like 5/8ths of an inch. But they also go through their entire engine before each race. A turbo set up right will wont give u more power than a striker turbo it will just shift the power band higher.

I love the video game idea!! haha never really thought to do that. It would be interesting testing actual colors vas the the game ones. As for colors for your z, If you like that purple, go with a gold and black interior. Or gold and black outside and tan interior. I personally am a black interior guy. I think its the most classic and looks clean. How many times have you seen a muscle car with a funky interior or the interior just looks bad colored. Thats what I think about, I don't want an interior that I will want to change in a couple years cause the color looks bad, when its worn in.